Feds urge overhaul of children's food marketing

As childhood obesity rates climb, the food industry needs to improve the way it markets its products to children, according to a government report released Tuesday.

The report, from the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Health and Human Services, urges food companies to develop products that are more nutritious and to "review and revise" their marketing practices. It also suggests that the Children's Advertising Review Unit, which is regulated by the industry, consider creating minimum nutrition standards for foods advertised to children.

Consumer groups hailed the report as a step in the right direction. "This is the first acknowledgment by the FTC that there should be nutrition standards for food that's marketed to kids," said Margo Wootan, director of nutrition policy at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a nutrition advocacy group and frequent critic of junk food marketing.

But advocates also said that the report's conclusions and recommendations did not go far enough. "I am disappointed that the report makes only recommendations, without imposing any requirements on an industry largely out of control," Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, who has been a vocal critic of junk food marketing to children, said in a statement. "If industry fails at the task of self-regulation, stronger government action will be necessary."

The Grocery Manufacturers Association, a lobbying group that represents packaged food manufacturers, said that the food industry had already undertaken "initiatives to help families improve their health and wellness." The changes, the group says, include new and reformulated products that are healthier, products that are portion-controlled to have just 100 calories and the addition of "healthy lifestyle messages" on food package labels.

"We welcome the agencies' suggestions regarding other ways in which we might be able to have a positive impact on the health of all consumers, especially children," said C. Manly Molpus, president of the association.

General Mills, one of the largest food companies, said that it had tightened its marketing guidelines, partly in response to a similar report done by the Institute of Medicine, a scientific advisory group, in December. Tom Forsythe, a company spokesman, said that advertisements for children 12 and under will feature only products that have fewer than 175 calories per serving and that meet certain nutritional guidelines, for example, by containing half a serving of whole grains.

These guidelines, however, do not address one ingredient that consumer advocates have frequently cited: sugar, a core ingredient of many of General Mills' children's cereals.